The Hollow Village

The journey to the village we now know as Hollowbrook, is one of uncertainty. Killian and Lairion seem to be discussing religion, of all things ! Ugh ! Probably trying to use their beliefs to explain the magical and scientific catastrophe. A theological discussion and debate can be quite fascinating but with these two its like talking to stubborn children.
We have no plan, no idea what look for and how we are to solve this mystery. If everyone has vanished it might be worth just checking the houses one at a time to see what evidence has been left behind, if any ? Within the first house the fire is still lit, although now it's embers. There's a pot on the stove filled with a stew and the candles around the home are almost burnt out. I think as an act of decency. I decide we should put all the live flames out in every one of these homes so when we finally get the people back they still have a home.
As the fires are put out, we see shadows almost burned into floor. They look like the shapes of people. Each shadow reveals a sliver of information as to what these folks final moments were. A family sat at table ready for dinner, A woodcutter hammering nails mid motion, a horse drawn cart abandoned in the middle of the road. Not even the livestock survived.
-Note-It looks like the village has been flash frozen. Curiously this looks to be a symptom of the event ? I theorise that what has happened is a massive temporal event.
The crack in time has snatched all the living beings in this area. Therefore altering, stopping or even destroying the timelines linked to those creatures in our plane. This in turn has left a wound, a scar on reality in the form of these echoes stuck in there last moment.
A physical by-product of the event has been discovered in random locations too. Shards of strange blurred energy. Possible pieces to gather and eventually fix ? Another possibility is that, like an explosion using materials such as the rare explosive black powder, there's shrapnel. either way collecting these pieces seems logical just in case.
 
Things seem dire right now and tensions are high due to another helpless situation we seem to find ourselves in, but more so in Killian's case. I could always rely on the fool to diffuse the tension in the difficult times, despite him driving me insane with his cockiness. Over the past year Killian and I have remained at Thunderfall. But kept ourselves to ourselves, occasionally meeting up for a drink and meal. The last few months however have concerned me. His belief has turned to borderline zealotry, he's twisted his protection for others into an ignorance of the unworthy. I've abided this for as long as I can. I want to know the truth. What's happened to you Killian ?...
 
[Krod casts 2nd level Detect Thoughts on Killian]
 
Something in the air changes. We all see it at the centre of the village. A creature that can only be described as a body pushing its way through fabric, the ends of witch spark with energy. This featureless being does not speak when we question. This being is not friendly. Its going to attack us. Prepare yourselves.
 
[Killian Lairion and Krod engage the mysterious creature in combat using a mixture of melee, ranged and spell attacks]
 
...Despite our swiftness destroying this mysterious being. Its presence is concerning. There are many possibilities what it may be but each is as farfetched as the next. What's this ? A fragment of something ?...
 
[Krod cast 1st level Identify as a Ritual spell]
 
-Note-The fragment recovered appears to possess the following properties
Fragment of the Splintered Hourglass, Wondrous item, very rare (attunes to one party member)
A broken shard of temporal glass, cool to the touch and faintly humming with reversed time. This curved piece of crystalline material is about the size of a human palm. It looks like shattered glass… but when viewed from the corner of your eye, it appears whole. Half an hourglass. One bell engraved above it. A symbol that has now appeared several times.
 
Properties: Temporal Drift. Once per long rest, as a reaction to taking damage, the bearer can shift one moment out of sync, reducing the damage by 3d10. Your outline flickers a half-second behind you.
 
Return the Step. Once per long rest, after missing an attack roll or failing an ability check, you may rewind the instant and roll again.
You must keep the second result.
 
Resonant Memory. Holding the fragment while meditating for 10 minutes causes faint whispers to emerge — disconnected voices from people who vanished in the settlement.
The bearer receives one cryptic clue about the disappearing villagers or the Chronicle of Broken Hours each time this is used.
(You decide the clue. Use it to foreshadow.)
 
Curse / Side Effect (No mechanical penalty only flavour, not harmful)
Sometimes, while holding the fragment:
1. You see yourself standing where you aren’t
2. You see your hand moving slightly before you move it
3. A bell swaying in the corner of your vision
 
Do you both here that too ? What is that ? A message ? A Riddle...
"One fragment remembers. Three restore. Seven rewrite".
Of course ! The splinters and this fragment must be the pieces of a puzzle to solving this mystery and fixing what's broken. The rift to the south maybe the epicentre of this theoretical explosion. Hollowbrook maybe the collateral damage caught in the sharpnel blast and the Artificer maybe the spark the the explosion or hold the very plan itself ? Fianally we're on the right track...
 
...What ? Why has this fragment chose me ?...